Something Fantastic
by Haely Potter
Summary: River meant to send the message to the Eleventh Doctor. We know what happened when the Tenth Doctor received it. But what if it went further back, to the Ninth Doctor? Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead with Ninth Doctor, Rose and Jack. Set between Boom Town and Bad Wolf


Yellow! Long time no see! Been busy. Mostly watching Doctor Who, but who cares.

Anyway, this started as a speculation with my cousin about how the ninth Doctor would react to River Song and her slightly flippant attitude towards paradoxes. Well, my speculation and then I told my cousin I'd love to read a story that explored the idea. I only meant to write quick snap shot to get it out of my head but the plunny wouldn't leave me alone so here we are, three weeks later and a fully fledged one shot spanning both the Silence in the Library and the Forest of the Dead.

The main question was: how would it influence timelines if River met Nine instead of Ten. In my opinion Nine was more likely to jump to worse conclusions than Ten or Eleven and more concerned with timelines, especially after Father's Day. So he would be more adamant about not finding out future information, interrupting River whenever she was about to tell him something that would have led to the future River represented. And Nine/Rose/Jack is my OT3, so I had to add how they'd end up in a relationship.

Set after Boom Town but obviously before Bad Wolf.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

The TARDIS materialized at the info desk and the blue doors opened. A girl in jeans and a light pink jumper stepped out first, followed by a man with tight black trousers and a white t-shirt and another man with dark jeans, green jumper and black leather jacket followed, locking the door after them.

"So where are we this time?" the girl asked, looking around curiously.

"The Library," answered the man in tight trousers. "I've been here before, it in the 50th century. Had to use the vortex manipulator to go a century back before the whole thing was put under quarantine."

"We're close to your time? Nice. But really…? A library?"

"Not a library, Rose, The Library," the man with the leather jacket said. "It's the Universe's biggest library. Every book ever printed up until now is here. The Library spans the whole planet. The thing about you apes, you like the smell of the books. By now you have fiction mist, holo vids, straight-to-brain downloads and you lot still print books."

"Don't knock it Doc," the other man said. "Not all of us want our brains wired. And the librarian I grew up with was hot. I spent many afternoons trying to see more of her cleavage. Come to think of it, I lost my virginity to her. That was good summer."

"This whole planet's a library? Why are we here?" Rose asked the Doctor, ignoring Jack. "But… where's everybody? We don't land on Sundays, except at home so that mum can't drag you shopping."

"Let's take a look, shall we?" the Doctor grinned and went to the closest computer terminal. He used his sonic screwdriver to speed up the computer, not noticing Rose walking back to the reception area where they'd arrived. "Well that's strange."

"What is it, Doc?" Jack asked and stepped up behind him.

"According to the computer, there are only three of your basic humanoid life forms on the whole planet," the Doctor said and did the scan again, showing Jack the results. "But when the parameters are widened to search for any life forms…"

"A million million?" frowned Jack as he read over the Doctor's shoulder, leaning closer than propriety allowed. "That is weird. And we still don't see… or hear… anybody else."

"The silence in the Library," mused the Doctor.

"Welcome," a voice said from the direction they came from. The Doctor and Jack whipped around, not seeing Rose anywhere and ran to the source of the voice where they found her, staring at the node.

"That face! Is it real?" she asked once she felt the Doctor and Jack on either side of her.

"Well, someone once had that face but when they died, they donated it to the Library, kind of like you'd donate a park bench with your name in the 21st century," Jack explained.

"There is brief message from the head librarian," the node said, "demanding for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by Felman Lux automated decency filter. The message follows: _Run. For God's sake, run. Nowhere is safe. The Library has sealed itself. We can't- Oh, they're here. Argh. Slarck. Snick._ Message ends. Please switch off your mobile components for the comfort of other readers."

"Guess that's why we're here," the Doctor muttered before speaking up. "Any other messages same date stamp?"

"One additional message," said the node. "This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning-"

"Just play the message," Jack snapped, crossing his arms in front of himself.

"Message follows: _Count the shadows. For God's sake remember, if you want to live, count the shadows._ Message ends."

The Doctor looked pensive and slightly horrified as he glanced around the room. "Rose, Jack."

"Yes Doctor?"

"Stay out of the shadows," he said and started to walk away, taking Rose's hand.

"I was born for the lime light," Jack said and went after them. "But what's in the shadows?"

They went further in to the Library, Rose pressing closer to the Doctor, not liking the way the Doctor spoke of the shadows. They came to well lit corridor with bookcases lining the walls as far as they could see.

"Admit it Doc, we weren't just in the neighborhood," Jack pestered. "We were supposed to go to the beach."

"I got a message on the psychic paper," the Doctor admitted, handing the leather case to the Captain. "What do you think?"

"A cry for help, with a kiss?" smirked Jack. "You sure it isn't from a future me?"

The Doctor snorted. "You'd call for the future Doctor. You most likely wouldn't have included a kiss though, but an invitation to your bed. And why would you want to meet at the Library anyway?"

"To make out in the stacks," giggled Rose behind her hand as Jack gave the psychic paper back to the Doctor, making the men laugh. "Seriously, it's what I used to go to the library for."

"But you have no idea who's it from?" Jack asked after calming down.

"Not the slightest clue," answered the Doctor cheerfully. "That's what makes half the fun."

"So why did we come here?" asked Jack just as one of the light bulbs down the corridor went out with a loud _znik_.

"Jack, Rose," the Doctor said, looking at the dark light bulb. "Run," he said as more lights went out. They ran to a door, Rose's hand tightly held in the Doctor's, and the Doctor kicked the door in after it failed to open otherwise. Jack lunged for a book and Rose and the Doctor closed the doors, stepping aside just in time to let Jack jam the doors with the book.

"This is just fantastic! We are in so much trouble," the Doctor cursed. "It's the Vashta Nerada."

"What's Vashta Nerada?" asked Rose as the Doctor dragged her to the center of the room where it was light and where the security camera had switched itself off and fallen to the ground.

The Doctor let go of her hand and crouched closer to the security camera, taking out his sonic. "It's what's in the dark, what's always in the dark. Most worlds have them. On Earth they survive mostly on road kills but sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes out of the dark. This is the one thing I wanted you to meet less than the Daleks, Rose, because Vashta Nerada can't be fought, you can only run from them."

Finally the security camera went on again but the screen showed a message: STOP IT, PLEASE!

"Oh, sorry little fella, I didn't realize you're alive," the Doctor said and set the camera down.

The message changed: THE LIBRARY IS BREACHED. OTHERS ARE COMING!

"Others? What others?" Rose asked the node on the edge of the light area.

"It's a machine, it can't help you," The Doctor said and stood up. "And we need to get out of here. Go to the Shadow Proclamation and set up a quarantine. Not one living thing can come here ever again."

"But the sphere said others were coming," pointed out Jack. "Shouldn't we warn them?"

Just when he stopped speaking there was a violent flash at the doors that burst open. Jack grabbed Rose and pushed her behind him and the Doctor stepped between them and the door, straightening up so as to look more intimidating. In came six people wearing some kind of white space suits, their visors tinted.

The leader walked straight up to the Doctor and cleared her visor. It was a woman in her mid thirties with very curly light brown hair. She was smiling. "Hello sweetie."

"Sweetie?" repeated the Doctor. "_Sweetie_?" he said again, looking back at Jack and Rose incredulously. Then he turned back to the people. "Get out. All of you, turn around and go back to your rocket so that you can go back to your beans on a toast. Leave and tell your grandchildren you came to the Library and lived and they'll not believe you."

"Pop your helmets everyone, we've got breathers," the leader said and took off her helmet.

"How do you know they're not androids?" one of the other space suit wearers asked.

"Cause I've dated androids, they're rubbish," the leader answered with a rather superior voice as she shook out her hair.

"Who is this?" a man in his early fifties asked the leader. "You said this was the only expedition, I paid for exclusives!"

"I lied, I'm always lying. Bound to be others," the leader smirked as the last one, the skeptical one, took off her helmet.

"Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts," the man said, frowning, and turned to the youngest woman with them. Only Rose was probably younger (and on the other hand she was three thousand years older but who's counting).

"You came through the North entrance, yeah? Did you see much damage?" the leader asked the Doctor who stood in the middle of the group, clenching his fists.

"Just go, I'm telling you-" the Doctor paused. "Hang on, did you say expedition?"

"My expedition," the man in his fifties said rather sourly. "I funded it."

The Doctor groaned, as did Rose and Jack. "Aww, no, don't tell me you're bloody archeologists?"

"Got a problem with archeologists?" the leader with a smile and arched eyebrows.

"We're time travelers, we point and laugh at archeologists," said Jack. "Last week we took some Babylonian vases to Rome and went to see the archeologists fumble over the findings two thousand years later. The aid was very eager to please."

"Ah, Professor River Song, archeologist," the leader said and offered her hand to the Doctor cheekily. None of the three time travelers liked how fixated on the Doctor she was.

The Doctor shook the proffered hand. "Nice to meet you River Song, as you're leaving, and you're leaving now, you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Codewall whole planet. Nobody comes here again, not ever again. Not one living thing!" the Doctor snapped and pushed River Song ahead of himself to the door where they came from.

"Stop right there!" Jack told the skeptic of the expedition. "What's your name?" he asked her as he dragged her away from the shadows.

"Anita," answered the short haired woman as the Doctor rounded on her.

"Anita, nice name, stay out of the shadows. Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows, got that?" asked the Doctor, nodding to Jack for a job well done. "Not until you're safely on the way home. Find a bright spot and stand still and look bloody terrified if you understand what I'm saying!"

None of the expedition looked particularly scared.

"Doctor, the way they came from, it's getting darker," Rose said and pointed to the open doorway.

The Doctor cursed. "You have to find another way to your rocket, that way's infested now. Rose, into the middle of the room, you're too close to the shadows for comfort. Jack, seal the door."

"Oh fine, just keep Rosie safe, never mind putting old Jack in danger," grumbled Jack as he moved to seal the door.

"You wouldn't be here were it not for her," the Doctor pointed out.

"And you're never gonna let me live that down, are you," Jack sighed as he closed the doors, taking out his sonic gun and melting the locks.

"I'm not," joked Rose. "Are you my mummy?"

Jack and the Doctor laughed, confusing the expedition.

"You lot have to find some other way out," the Doctor grumbled to the archeologists. Stupid apes. Something kills off a whole world, and what do they do? Send archeologists a hundred years later. He could understand the curiosity behind it but not the stupidity.

"We're not looking for a way out," the middle aged man said stubbornly and handed something to miss Evangelista. "Miss Evangelista?" he prompted her toward the Doctor, Rose and Jack who had returned to their side.

"Umm… I'm Mr. Lux' personal… everything, and I need you to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experiences inside The Library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux corporation," she recited, as if reading from some kind of flash card, and as Mr. Lux was mouthing along with her, it was more than a reasonable conclusion.

The Doctor, Rose and Jack glanced at each other before ignoring the offered papers completely. Unsure of what to do, miss Evangelista turned to Mr. Lux for help.

"My family built this Library, I have rights!" he insisted.

"You have a mouth that won't stop," snorted Rose.

"You think there's danger here?" Professor Song asked the Doctor.

"Vashta Nerada came and killed the whole world and now they haven't fed in a whole century," the Doctor ground out. He was really getting frustrated with these people. "We're all in danger of being eaten alive in under a second. Danger? Could be!" he finally shouted.

"But, if Vashta Nerada are in the shadows, shouldn't we set up, like, lights? Create a safe area, or something?" Rose asked, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"Good point Rose. You got lights?" he asked the expedition but didn't give them the chance to answer. "Fantastic, now form a circle, a parameter, lights pointing out, big as you can."

This snapped River Song into action and she started barking orders, last of which was "Macho man, with me." The Doctor, not listening to her, went with the one that had been ordered to the computer terminal.

"Macho man, with me I said," Professor Song snapped.

The Doctor looked around and noticed Rose looking at him with raised eyebrows, her head tilted slightly to Professor Song.

"Oh, I'm macho man?" he asked, eyebrows jumping up.

"Yep," answered Rose, popping the 'p' and rolling her eyes.

"Macho?" repeated the Doctor.

Rose looked him up and down appreciatively, tongue peeking from between her teeth. "A bit, but I kind of like it."

The Doctor grinned widely at her and followed Professor Song.

Professor Song was taking something out of her back bag and the Doctor cleared his throat meaningfully.

"Thanks," the woman said distractedly.

"For what?"

"The usual. For coming when I called," the Professor said without looking at him.

"That was you?! I'm not a bloody dog you can summon!" he snapped, offended that someone dared to presume to just... call him and expect him to come running. He wasn't a help service, damn it!

"You're doing a really good job acting like you don't know me, I'm assuming there's a reason," she said, going through her blue book.

"Bloody good one, yeah," the Doctor said, leaning against the table, making sure to keep Rose in his field of vision, sparing the Professor the barest scrap of his attention.

"Okay, shall we do diaries then. Where are we this time?" the woman asked, looking at the Doctor for the first time since she called him, face expectant. "Going by your face I'd say it's early days then, yes? So, umm… Crash at the Byzanthium, have we done that yet?"

The Doctor just frowned at her. He would – investigate? – the crash of the Byzanthium?

"Obviously ringing no bells. Alright," she went a few pages earlier in her book. "Ah. Picnic at Asgard. Have we done Asgard yet?" she asked, smiling and looking at him through her lashes. The Doctor suppressed a shudder. She sounded much too domestic to him. But Rose might like Asgard, as long as he got the time right… Jack certainly would, all those beautiful people up and about. He'd think about it later. "Obviously not," she said, her smile fading. "Blimey, very early days then. Phew, life of a time traveler, never knew it could be such hard work," she joked and went a few more pages back. Then she looked at the Doctor who was watching Rose keenly. From the corner of his eyes he saw that her eyes seemed a little glassy. "Look at you," she whispered, drawing his attention. "You're young."

"I'm really not," The Doctor huffed, not liking this woman and her careless attitude at all.

"Oh, but you are!" the Professor breathed, smiling. She put a hand on his neck. "Your eyes…" she brought her hand to his cheek. "You're younger than I've ever seen you!"

The Doctor grabbed her wrist, wrenching it away from his face. Only Rose and Jack could come to his personal space like this, and Jack simply because it didn't matter to him how many times the Doctor told him not to! And he kind of liked it that his two humans were comfortable enough with him to do it. "I have no idea what game you're playing at, but you'll do well to stop it. I don't know who you think you are but you'll do well to keep your paradox well away from me, I've done this once before and it didn't end well." He walked away to Rose who placed a comforting hand on his arm before slipping her hand to his, ignoring the way the Professor's eyes watered.

Suddenly an alarm sounded, alerting everyone to the fact. "I seem to have set something off," the pilot said from the computer terminal.

"Doctor, that sounds like a phone," Rose pointed out immediately as the Doctor dragged her to the terminal. "And I mean a proper landline, not a mobile."

"How can you tell?" asked Jack, frowning. Those primitive things didn't really make sense to him, even if he now had a mobile phone of his own.

"Mum and I had one until a few years ago when calling on mobiles became cheaper than calling on landlines, and you know mum, always saving any and every penny," shrugged Rose, even though Jack and Jackie had never met. "But… if it's a phone… why's nobody answering?"

"Good question," the Doctor smiled at her and went over to the pilot, proper Dave, who was manning the terminal. "Let me see. I'm going to try to reroute the interface…" He clicked away on the computer, much like Rose had seen Mickey do on many occasions. Eventually a living room and a little girl came on screen. "Hello," the Doctor said, a little confused. The girl greeted him back and asked if he was in her television. "Well… no, I'm trying to reach the data recall retrieval security processor."

"Would you like to speak to my dad?" the girl asked.

"Or any other adult, please," the Doctor agreed.

The girl hesitated, looking at him more closely. "I know you! You're in my Library!"

"Your Library?"

"The Library's never been on television before," the girl said hesitantly. "What have you done?"

"I just rerouted the interface…" the Doctor trailed off as the connection died.

"What happened? Who was that?" asked Professor Song.

The screen continued to be blank no matter what the Doctor did, so he sprinted across the room to the other terminal where he and River Song had just talked. "Get those lights out!" he barked at the useless archeologists. Stupid apes couldn't even follow orders. He noticed Professor Song's diary by the computer, but ignored it. As soon as you knew what was coming, it became a certainty. It was bad enough to meet someone who'd already met you because you knew you were going to meet them again, but what Professor Song had hinted at… it just made the Doctor's skin crawl. In fact, he was so bent on ignoring the book, he didn't notice Professor Song retrieving it.

But when the books began flying off the shelves for no apparent reason, he turned his attention back to the others in the room. Rose was looking a little spooked and was slightly cowering behind Jack who, himself, was jumpy but more used to this century and knew more of the telekinetic operation behind such things. When he saw that no harm was coming from the raining books, the Doctor turned back to the computer. "What's CAL?" he called out to the archeologists. No answer was forthcoming.

The books stopped falling after about fifty books and Rose looked around. Most of the expedition had continued working right through the raining books, but miss Evangelista looked more spooked than she felt. Feeling sympathy for her, she went over to talk with her. "Are you alright?"

"What's happening?" the other girl asked with slightly hysterical tone of voice.

"I don't know, but I know it can't be ghosts," she smiled. "Thank you for offering to help with the lights, that was very kind of you."

"They don't want me," miss Evangelista said sadly. "They think I'm stupid 'cos I'm pretty."

"That's no reason to think someone's stupid," Rose pointed out. "Do you think I'm stupid 'cos I'm pretty too? Nah, we can be just as clever as they can by noticing things they don't. Academic learning ain't everything, you know."

"But, I really am a moron, me," miss Evangelista whispered. "My dad said I had the IQ of a plankton and I was pleased."

Rose laid a comforting hand on her arm. "Do you know, when I was growing up, people always thought I was stupid 'cos I came from the Estate. And then I proved them right when I left school for a boy. But, before I started traveling with the Doctor I was thinking of going back to school to get my A levels. But, the Doctor taught me I don't need some stupid piece of paper to tell me something, all I have to do is believe in myself. Besides, there are many kinds of smart. The Doctor, for example, is the smartest person I know, but he can't figure out if someone fancies him. Jack over there, he can't understand art at all. What are you good at?"

"Making things pretty and pretty things," answered miss Evangelista. "And clothes, I always know what to wear, what colors to match, see."

"See, you've got artistic smarts!" Rose cheered her up. "Jack might be pretty but he can't dress himself for anything."

"Thank you, Rose, right?" miss Evangelista smiled hesitantly.

""What's in a name? That which we call rose, By any other name would smell as sweet,"" Rose quoted and grinned. "That's me alright."

The Doctor came to stand in front of the desk again. "Who was that little girl?" he asked the expedition as a whole. "What's she got to do with this place? How does the data recall work? What's CAL?"

"Ask Mr. Lux," snarked Professor Song and the Doctor turned to face him with arched eyebrows.

"Sor-ry, you didn't sign your personal experience contract," Mr. Lux said with his slightly nasal voice.

The Doctor stalked forward menacingly and loomed over the nearly a head shorter Mr. Lux. "You're in more danger than you've been in your whole life and you're being a stubborn fool for keeping something vital from me. I'm only asking because that knowledge may save the life of every stupid ape in this room."

"Then why don't you sign his contract," suggested Professor Song, making the Doctor, Jack and Rose turn to look at her in silence. Then she smirked. "I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you."

Rose and Jack rolled their eyes and the Doctor huffed. "Whatever. Back to basics for you apes. What physically happened here one hundred years ago?"

"There was one message from the Library," Professor Song said. "Just one. "The lights are going out." Then the computer sealed the planet and there was nothing for nearly a hundred years."

"It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals to get back in," Mr. Lux said, for once concentrating on the matter at hand.

"'Scuse me?" miss Evangelista tried to get everyone's attention.

"Not now miss Evangelista," snapped Mr. Lux.

"There was one other thing in the last message," Professor Song revealed and took out a small, handheld computer.

"That's confidential!"

"I trust this man with my life, with everything," Professor Song said with conviction and started searching the computer for whatever it was she wanted to show the Doctor.

"But you've only just met him!"

"No, he's only just met me."

The Doctor arched an eyebrow as he leaned to see what Professor Song had on her computer. Only Rose had shown that kind of trust in him…

"This might be important actually!" miss Evangelista tried again.

"In a moment!" Mr. Lux dismissed her harshly.

"This is the extra that came with the message."

"4022 saved. No survivors," read the Doctor. "That's cheery."

"4022 is the exact number of people who were in the Library that day when the planet was sealed," Professor Song confirmed the Doctor's theory.

"But, how can 4022 people be safe if there were no survivors?" Rose pointed out.

"That's what we're here to find out," answered Professor Song, looking up from the computer.

"So far, what we haven't found, is any bodies," Mr. Lux said darkly.

"Neither did we," said Jack. "Or any skeletons as they'd be long before now. In this kind of dry air it takes a body about three to four months to decompose, leaving only the skeleton…"

"Fine, skeletons then," Professor Song rolled her eyes.

"I think the wording of the message is strange," Rose was still thinking about the message.

"_I saved those pictures for you," Mickey said and leaned back from his computer._

"_You're safe now sweetheart," her mum said, rocking her in her lap after she'd nearly drowned. She'd been saved by a young man with gentle green eyes who'd looked at her like she was something precious._

"Normally people say they're safe. The only time someone says saved is-" she was cut off by a terrified scream from somewhere behind the Doctor. They ran through the open doorway that hadn't been there before, Rose assuming this was what miss Evangelista had wanted to show them.

They ran into a reading hall and in the middle of the room on a chair was a pure white skeleton. Rose swallowed to keep bile from rising to her mouth.

"Stay in the light!" the Doctor ordered urgently and dragged Rose by arm to the small circle of light.

"You keep saying that but I don't see the point," the proper Dave muttered.

"Who screamed?" the Doctor asked, wanting the expedition to figure it out on their own.

"Miss Evangelista," answered proper Dave.

"And where is she?"

"_Miss Evangelista state you current-_" Professor Song said to the intercom but stopped when she got it back in stereo. The Doctor pointed his torch at the skeleton. "_Please state your current-_" she crouched forward and reached around the neck of the skeleton. "-position," she whispered and drew the intercom to lay on the skeleton in plain sight. "It's her," she whispered in disbelief and grief. "It's miss Evangelista."

"We heard her scream a few seconds ago," said Anita. "What could do that to a person in a few seconds?"

"It took far less than a few seconds," the Doctor said morosely, his hand instinctively seeking out Rose's.

"What did?"

"_Hello?_" miss Evangelista's voice asked, startling Rose.

"Uh… I'm sorry everyone," Professor Song said, trying to stay strong. "This isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting."

"She's what now?" whispered Rose.

"_Hello? Excuse me?_" miss Evangelista asked again. "_I-I'm sorry. Hello? Excuse me?_"

"That's her," Rose said weakly.

"I know this will sound horrible but could we just-" the proper Dave started.

"No we can't, these are her last moments. A little respect, thank you," demanded Professor Song.

"_Sorry. Where am I? Excuse me?_"

"That's miss Evangelista." Rose still couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"It's a data ghost," Professor Song explained. "She'll be gone in a moment. _Miss Evangelista,_" she spoke to the intercom, "_you're fine, just relax. We'll be with you presently._"

"What's a data ghost?" Rose asked, looking tearily between the Doctor and Jack.

"There's a neuro relay in the communicator that lets it all through," Jack explained. "It's those green lights. Sometimes it can hold the impression of a living mind for a while after death has occurred. Like an echo or a shadow. My mother ghosted for eight hours, kept asking for my little brother who'd gone missing just months before."

With her left hand take up by the Doctor, Rose extended her right hand towards Jack who took it with a small smile and stepped closer to her.

"_I can't see. I can't…Where am I?_"

"She's just brainwaves now," the Doctor said mournfully. One more stupid ape he couldn't save.

"Pattern won't hold for long," proper Dave said.

"But she's thinking! She's making observations! "I think, therefore I am," or something," cried Rose.

"_I can't see! I can't- I don't know what I'm thinking._"

"She's a footprint on a beach, and the tide's coming in," the Doctor said a squeezed Rose's hand.

"_Where's that nice woman?_ _Where's Rose? Is she there?_"

Rose's eyes widened and she took an involuntary step forward. Professor Song glanced at her before speaking to the intercom. "_Yes, she's here. Hang on._" She held the button pressed down and looked at Rose. "Go ahead, she can hear you," she whispered.

"_Hello? Are you there?_"

Rose cleared her throat a little.

"_Hello? Is that you Rose?_"

"Yes, it's me," she managed with a little watery smile. "You-you okay? Everything fine?"

"_What I said before, about being stupid… Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh._"

"'Course I won't tell them, it was between mates, ay?"

"_Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh._"

"I wouldn't tell them even if they asked," she promised.

"_Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh._"

"I won't, I won't tell 'em," she choked out, tears starting to fall.

"_Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh._"

"She's looping now, the pattern's degrading," Professor Song said, voice thick with emotion.

"_I can't think… I… there's… no… I… I… I… I… ice cream… ice cream… ice cream… ice cream… ice cream… ice cream…_"

"Does anyone mind if I…?" Professor Song asked and when she received no replies, she walked over to miss Evangelista's skeleton and turned the neuro relay off.

Rose turned on her heels and pressed her teary face to the Doctor's chest. Automatically his arms went around her and he pulled her even closer. Seconds later Jack was hugging her from the other side and she was squished between two of her dearest friends in the whole of universe. "That was the most horrible thing I've seen yet," she whispered hoarsely.

"Nah, it's just a quirk of technology," Professor Song said, pocketing miss Evangelista's neuro relay. "But whatever did this to her, whatever killed her… I'd like a word with that."

"I'll introduce ya in a minute," the Doctor said, pushing Rose away a little, just enough so that he could cup her face with his hands and brush her tears away with his thumbs. "You were fantastic. Better now?"

Rose nodded jerkily and managed a small smile before visibly gathering herself, making Jack stand back. She still held both their hands. "Yeah. Let's go meet the Vashta Nerada."

The Doctor smiled and led her by hand back to the room they'd just ran out of when they'd heard miss Evangelista.

"I'm going to need excess meat, meaning no body parts. Anyone got meat in their lunch or do all of you eat that neo tofu stuff?" the Doctor asked the remaining members of the expedition.

"Hang on," Professor Song said and started emptying her back pack until a packed lunch came out. "Here you go, chicken and a bit of salad, knock yourself out."

The Doctor snatched the packed lunch. "Well then, let's all meet the Vashta Nerada."

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

"You travel with him, don't you?" Professor Song asked Jack when the Doctor was looking for a living swarm. "The Doctor, you travel with him."

"And Rose, can't forget her, don't want to imagine what he'd be like without her," Jack shrugged. "You know him, don't you?"

"God, do I know that man," the Professor said, a hint of pride in her voice. "Go way back, that man and me. Just… not this far back."

"You've got a temporally out of synch relationship," Jack summed up. "He hasn't met you yet, has he? I've seen that kind of relationships, always ending in heart break."

"I sent him a message but it went wrong, it arrived too early," the Professor said, looking at Jack. "This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me… the way he looks right through me… it shouldn't kill me but it does."

"And the way he looks at Rose and holds her hand," Jack laughed.

"Shut up, Jack, I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape in this room!" the Doctor shouted.

Rose snorted and nudged him with her foot. "Rude, Doctor," she muttered.

"Sorry, Jack," the Doctor muttered, going back to work.

Jack smiled at the two of them.

"Jack? You're Jack? Captain Jack Harkness?" the Professor asked with wide eyes.

Jack smiled at her charmingly. "The one and only. So you know the Doc from a time after me and Rosie, eh? Though I can't imagine him just leaving her somewhere, not like he probably could do to me."

"I never thought I'd get to meet you so young," Professor Song confessed. "I always thought, when I'd meet you, you'd be already-" she slapped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry, spoilers, but, you are more important to the Doctor than you think. It may not seem so for a long time, but you are."

Jack laughed. "Never as important as Rosie, but then, he isn't as important to me as Rosie is," he shrugged and looked at Rose gently. "She was the one willing to believe in me, willing to give me a second chance."

"Yes," Professor Song said with a painful smile. "Rose Tyler. The one the Doctor can't even pretend to forget like the rest of his friends. Not that he talks about her much. He just… remembers her, trying to cover up the pain of no longer having her with him. She becomes a legend on the TARDIS you know, after her there is no companion that doesn't know her name."

"Ha!" crows the Doctor. "We've got a live one!" He got up from the floor and pointed under the table. "It's not darkness in those hallways and this is not a shadow. It's a swarm," he said and took Professor Song's lunch, crouching again. "A man eating swarm." He threw a drumstick into the shadow and everyone looked on in astonishment as the meat disappeared off the bone in the blink of an eye once it reached the shadow. "The piranhas in the air. Vashta Nerada. Literally the shadows that melt the flesh. I've never seen an infestation off this scale before. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see it sometimes. The dust in sun beams."

"But… that's pretty when there's not too much dust," protested Rose.

"Every shadow?" asked Professor Song, sounding concerned for the first time.

"No, but any shadow," corrected the Doctor.

"So what do we do?"

"Daleks, aim for the eye stalk. Raxacoricofallapatorians, douse with vinegar. Vashta Nerada, run. I suppose you could kill them by filling the whole atmosphere with flammable gas and then burning the whole world but in most cases that's very controversial," the Doctor theorized. "No one knows for sure if Vashta Nerada can be killed by fire."

"Run? Run where?" Professor Song wanted to know.

"Closest teleport would be your best chance of survival."

"Don't look at me, I haven't memorized the schematics!" Mr. Lux said once everyone looked at him.

"Last time I was here, they made me go through a souvenir shop," Jack said, pointing at the little shop behind the Doctor. "The teleport pad was there."

"Jack I could kiss you!" cheered the Doctor.

"Any time you want Doctor," Jack grinned.

"Alright, let's move everyone!" proper Dave said, taking charge and started to gather their things.

"Actually Dave," the Doctor stopped him. "Could you stand still for a moment."

"Why?" asked proper Dave, a hint of fear in his voice.

"You've got two shadows," the Doctor said frankly. "It's how they hunt. They latch onto a fresh food source and keep it fresh."

"What do I do?"

"Stay absolutely still and tell me where your helmet is. Don't point, just tell me."

"By my bag, on the floor," answered Dave, voice quivering.

"Don't cross his shadow!" the Doctor snapped at Anita who went to get the helmet. She slowed down and became more careful around Dave's shadows. She handed the helmet to the Doctor who put it on proper Dave. "Now the rest of you, suit and seal up."

"But Doctor, we haven't got any suits," Rose said, standing by Jack.

"No we don't, so no wandering off," the Doctor said and grinned at her over his shoulder. "Professor! What can you do with the suit?"

"What good will the damn suits do?" asked Mr. Lux. "Miss Evangelista was wearing a suit and it didn't do a damn thing."

"We can increase the mesh density by four hundred percent, making it a tougher meal," Professor Song answered, ignoring Mr. Lux.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at proper Dave's suit. "Increased to eight hundred percent. Pass it on," he said and held out his sonic to the Professor. Who already had one. "What's that?"

"Screwdriver."

"It's sonic."

"Yeah, I know, snap," the Professor said and went to do what the Doctor had done to the rest of the expedition with her own screwdriver.

"Right then, Jack, Rose, come on!" the Doctor said and dragged both of them to the souvenir shop, pushing them on the teleport pads. "Stand there!"

"What?" asked Jack, standing on the pad.

"I can't send the others, TARDIS won't recognize them, but you two are the most in danger, you don't have a suit," he said and fiddle with the teleport controls.

"You don't have a suit either!" protested Rose.

"Rose, let me explain!" the Doctor said and activated the teleport without saying anything else. In five hours emergency protocol two would start Jack and Rose would be on their way to 21st century London to Rose's family. He hoped they would have a fantastic life together, even if it was without him. Rose had been right to give Jack a second chance. Maybe they'd name a son after him, John Harkness didn't sound too bad. Nor did Rose Harkness, come to think of it. Besides, it wasn't like he could be the one to give Rose children, far too domestic.

He raced back to the expedition. Dave had lost his second shadow but the Doctor knew Vastha Nerada never gave up. When Dave started ghosting, he told everyone to get back, backing away himself.

"Doesn't move fast, does it?" Professor Song joked.

"It's a swarm in a suit, but it's learning," the Doctor said.

"What do we do? Where do we go?" shouted Mr. Lux.

"See that wall behind you?" Professor Song said and took out a gun. "Duck!"

"Squareness gun!" the Doctor shouted in surprise before ushering everyone through the new escape route. "Don't you have digital rewind in that thing?" he demanded from Professor Song when she didn't fill in the gap.

"The what?" asked Professor Song.

"Oh, where's Jack when I need him?" muttered the Doctor under his breath. "Run!"

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

The Doctor was trying to increase the lights while the apes were catching their breath. The more light they had the better.

"The Lights won't stop them but at least they'll slow them down," he explained automatically, having gotten used to needing to explain to Rose and now Jack too.

"So what's the plan?" Professor Song asked, sonicing the same lamp as him. The Doctor finally got a good look of her screwdriver.

"Your screwdriver looks exactly like mine," he said quietly.

"Yeah," agreed Professor Song. "You gave it to me."

"I don't give my screwdriver to anyone," he said firmly.

"I'm not anyone," she answered, smiling secretively.

"Nor are you someone yet," the Doctor stated firmly and turned around. The less he knew the better, the more wiggle room he'd have once he met her.

"What's the plan?" she asked again.

"I teleported Rose and Jack back to the TARDIS. In five hours emergency program two will activate, take them to Rose's time." He looked at his sonic and frowned. "They're not there? I should've received a signal the second they got there!"

"Well, maybe the coordinates have slipped, this encryption is ancient," offered Professor Song.

The Doctor noticed a node not five feet from him. "Rose Tyler! There's a Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness somewhere in this Library. Do you have the software to locate them?" the Doctor asked the node but froze when the node's head turned to him.

"Rose Tyler has left the Library. Jack Harkness has left the Library. Rose Tyler has been saved. Jack Harkness has been saved," the node said with Rose's voice, for once completely emotionless.

"NO!" shouted the Doctor. "Rose!"

"How can it be Rose?" whispered Professor Song. "How is that possible?"

The Doctor stroked Rose's face gently. "Rose… I'll get you out, I promise," he swore.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" proper Dave's voice asked behind them. The Vashta Nerada had found them again.

"Doctor!" Professor Song called him but he couldn't concentrate on anything but Rose's emotionless face on the node. Finally Professor Song grabbed his hand and started to drag him. "We have to go, now!"

They ran into a dead end and Professor Song made them another escape route on her squareness gun. They made generous use of it too as they continued searching for a safe place. Eventually they came to a red tinted room that still had a clear, light spot in the middle. The expedition sat down to catch their breath on the light and the Doctor started checking for Vashta Nerada in the shadows.

"The sunset's coming," Professor Song said. "We can't stay here for long." The Doctor's sonic made a weird sound. "Have you found a live one?"

"Hard to tell over all your nattering," Doctor snapped. "And something's interfering with the screwdriver, so I'd appreciate it if you left me to work in peace."

"I need a chicken leg. Has anyone got a chicken leg?" asked Professor Song from the rest of the expedition. Reluctantly Dave gave her one wrapped in folio. "Thanks Dave," she said, unwrapped the chicken leg and threw it into the shadow the Doctor was investigating. The flesh disappeared in front of their eyes again. "Okay, okay. We've got a hot one! Watch your feet."

"They won't attack until there's enough of them, but now they've got us neatly in a box. All we now need is a pretty pink bow because we're all but gift wrapped," the Doctor pointed out sarcastically. He continued hunting the shadows for Vashta Nerada, ignoring the gossiping expedition behind him.

Eventually the annoying Professor came over again while he was trying to figure out what was wrong with the screwdriver. "What's wrong with it?"

"Some signal's interfering with it, and it's got to be something powerful," the Doctor said dismissively.

"So use the red settings," the annoying Professor said like it was obvious.

"It doesn't have red settings," the Doctor frowned at her. "And the fact that you told me about the red settings existing at all is future information, so shush."

"Use the dampers, then."

"What did I just say about the future information?" the Doctor growled at her. He was already furious having lost Jack and Rose to… something in the Library, he really didn't need some woman prancing around, talking to him as if she knows him. "Just, go sit over there and shut up."

"Listen to me. You've lost your friends," the Professor said matter-of-factly, "you're angry, I understand that. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now."

"Less emotional?" ground out the Doctor. "If you really are from my future, then you know I've just ended the Time War about a year ago," she gaped at him, obviously not having expected his answer, "and I've just lost the one person who makes me want to keep living, so don't talk to me about being less emotional, because at the moment it isn't possible. But since you didn't know, I wonder if you really are from my future. And if you indeed are, are you a friend, or an enemy."

"There are five people still alive in this room! Focus on that! Dear God you're hard work young," she snapped. "I'm someone you trust in the future! Here, let me prove it to you," she said and started leaning towards him, trying to reach his ear.

"Don't you dare," the Doctor said firmly and pushed Professor Song away from him. "I already know more than I should about you. The less I know the more wiggle room I have, and I've had too many choices taken from me. You know me in the future, I accept that, but don't you dare tell me anything else. I don't care if we've shared a hundred adventures, because they haven't happened to me yet. For all I know you could be a future companion or my child, grandchild, great-grandchild even, and you can't tell me." He turned around, ignoring the slightly shaking woman now behind him.

"Bad Wolf," she said, voice shaking.

He once again turned around and stared at her. "What?" he asked, wondering what she had to do with the two words that were stalking him and Rose. They seemed to be a warning that something was wrong, as it always had been when they saw the words, but what had the power to do such a thing?

"Oh… that means it hasn't come to a conclusion yet," the Professor said, disappointed her second choice of proof was too early.

"Do you know what it means?" he demanded.

She gave a pained smile. "Spoilers."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and continued to walk to the rest of the expedition. "Something is affecting my sonic screwdriver. Normally I'd have Rose point out all the obvious to me because my head's too full of stuff to see it, but since she's… occupied, I need you to list things that are different than they were before. Don't leave anything out, not one thing!"

"We've moved," Anita started.

"Not that much," muttered the Doctor.

"It's getting dark," Dave offered.

"It's a screwdriver, it works in the dark," the Doctor said condescendingly, but he glanced at the skylight. The moon was rising… that was new… "Moon rise… What can you tell me about the moon?"

"It's not real, it was built as a part of the Library," Mr. Lux answered, looking at the moon. "It's just a Doctor Moon."

"What's a Doctor Moon?" the Doctor wanted to know.

"A virus checker. It supports and maintains the computer in the core of the planet."

"It's still active," the Doctor said, getting readings on his sonic screwdriver. "Something alive in this Library is communicating with it. Or someone's drying their hair. Could be Rose for all we know," he said with a grin, trying to hide his uncertainty about Rose's fate. "No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon." He brought the screwdriver closer to himself, making small adjustments to what it was trying to read.

"Doctor!" called Professor Song.

The Doctor turned and saw a holographic image of Rose and Jack, Jack with his arm around her waist. Both of them blinked at him, looking like they knew who he was but weren't quite sure he was real. He only had time to shout "Jack! Rose!" before they disappeared again.

"Doctor, those were your friends!" the Professor said, pointing at where they'd been. "Can you get them back? What was that?"

"Shut up, I'm trying," the Doctor said and desperately fiddled with his screwdriver.

"Professor…?" Anita said fearfully.

"Just a moment."

"It's important. I have two shadows."

That got everyone's attention as they whirled around to confirm it for themselves. And indeed there she was, a shadow on either side of her with no kind of cross lightning to explain it.

"Helmets on, everyone!" ordered Professor Song. "Anita, I'll get yours."

"Didn't do proper Dave any good," muttered Anita despondently.

"Just keep it together, okay?"

"Keep it together? She's only crying! It's not like she's running around, screaming her head off," scoffed the Doctor, wishing Rose were there. She always knew what to say…

"I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction," Anita agreed with the Doctor just before Professor Song put on her helmet. The Doctor then tinted the visor.

"Oh God, they've got inside…"

"No, I just tinted the visor. Maybe it'll fool the swarm into thinking it's already inside," the Doctor said, knowing he wouldn't have had to explain this to Rose. Rose who'd looked so content with Jack's arm around her, Rose who was human and would leave him in the end and he didn't want to think what it'd be like if this half an hour had been a demonstration of what it felt like to be on an adventure without her.

"You think they can be fooled like that?" asked Professor Song.

"I don't know. It's a swarm. It's not like we chat," he snapped at her.

"Do you still see in there?" Dave asked behind the Doctor.

"Just about…"

"Stay back," the Doctor told the rest of the expedition. "Professor, a word." He leaned closer to her. "You said there were five people alive in this room? Then why are there six?"

Slowly they turned to face the door where the one that shouldn't have been was.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Run!" the Doctor shouted and started to lead the living humans away.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

They ran through the tube hallway connecting some of the Library towers, taller than any skyscraper on 21st century Earth. The Doctor directed the professor to find a safe spot and stayed behind to find out more about the swarm and how they were there. It turned out that the books were made out of the trees from the Vashta Nerada's forest and they'd been hatched in the Library.

Other Dave had been left to pull him back when he was "too stupid to live" according to Professor Song and had been eaten by the swarm. The Doctor, surrounded by the two late Daves, used the hatch in the floor to escape, remembering what Rose had done when they'd just met Jack and were being pursued by gas masked zombies in the Albion Hospital. Creative she was, his Rose.

He made his way painstakingly slowly to the tower he'd sent the living members of the expedition, clinging to the outer frame works of the tube hallway. Once inside again he used his screwdriver to lead him to the humanoid life forms just in time to hear Professor Song talk about the future him.

"Now _my_ Doctor… I've seen whole armies turn around and run away and he'd just swagger off back into his TARDIS and open the doors with the snap of his fingers. The Doctor in the TARDIS… Next stop everywhere," he heard Professor Song finish and he felt like gagging. Armies? Turn and run away? Is that what he will become? Is that how he'll be known in the future? Some merciless monster who scares armies into running away just by being there? Is that what he'll become after Rose… leaves? Dies? Because he would never intentionally leave her behind, would always check she was inside the TARDIS before swanning off from an alien planet. But he wouldn't force her to come with him if she wanted to leave, even if he'd try to persuade her to stay in every way possible, including but not limited to: clinging to her legs and begging her to stay.

"Will you stop talking about my future when it's possible for me to overhear," he snapped and came down the stairs. "And nobody can open the TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that."

"It does for the Doctor."

"I _am_ the Doctor," the Doctor rolled his eyes at her stubbornness. "Now will you shut up about me, I don't want you feeding your paradox any more than you have to by being here." He turned and walked up to Anita. "How are you doing?"

"Where's other Dave?" professor Song asked, finally realizing he'd come back alone.

"Not coming, sorry," he said, looking down and counting Anita's shadows. Still two.

"But if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" Anita asked.

"I don't know. Maybe tinting your visor did the trick," said the Doctor cheerfully. That'd be fantastic news! And handy to know if he ever ran into the Vashta Nerada again.

"It's making a difference alright. No one's going to see my face ever again," mourned Anita, half joking.

"Can I get you anything?" the Doctor asked gently. He really liked her. She was brave in the face of death, like his Rose.

"An old age would be nice," she joked lamely, a longing in her voice. "Anything you can do?"

"I'm all over it," the Doctor promised. "I'll try my hardest to keep you safe." He paused, thinking over what he'd just said. "Safe…" he whispered.

"What?" asked Anita.

"_I think the wording of the message is strange," Rose was still thinking about the message. "Normally people say they're safe. The only time someone says saved is-" she was cut off by a terrified scream from somewhere behind the Doctor._

"Rose figured it out but didn't have the time to tell us!" he realized, ecstatic. "Nobody says saved except when they're talking about computers! The people in the Library were literally saved! The message said saved, didn't it? And only nutters say saved! You say safe! People are safe! The secret's safe! But everything on a computer is saved!"

He ran to the computer terminal that was in the safe and well lighted room and hacked into the history of the computer. Since the traffic had been minimalistic for the last century, it was easy to get to the files from a hundred years ago.

"See!" he pointed to the screen. "Major power surge a hundred years ago, all the teleports going off at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tried to teleport 4022 people out at once, but with nowhere to send them. Nowhere is safe in the Library. A Vashta Nerada hatching in every shadow. So they get stuck in the system, like emails waiting to be sent. So what's a computer to do?"

Professor Song looked at him with a smile. "It saved them."

"The Library has the biggest hard drive at the center so the computer saved them the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive."

Suddenly an alarm went off, a red one of course, when will the apes learn? The Doctor turned back to the computer screen.

"_Auto destruction enabled in twenty minutes_," an automated voice said over the Library intercom.

"What's maximum erasure?" asked the professor.

"Twenty minutes and the planet cracks, like an egg," the Doctor answered seriously.

"No…" Mr. Lux said, voice wavering. "No, it's alright, the Doctor Moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect CAL."

Then the computer screen went blank and the Doctor rounded on Mr. Lux. "What's CAL? Tell me! I need to know so that I can save those 4022 people who are trapped inside the computer!"

"We need to get to the main computer," Mr. Lux said reluctantly. "I can show you better."

"It's at the core of the planet!" the Doctor pointed out. They had no safe way out of the room let alone to the core of the planet.

"Well then, let's go," the professor said and walked over to the slightly raised area in the middle of the room. She used her screwdriver to open the hatch. "Gravity platform," she said smugly.

"I can see why I'd like you," the Doctor conceded and stalked to the gravity platform.

"Oh, you do," the professor leered.

"You're just as bad as Jack," the Doctor snapped at her. "There's a time and a place, and when were on a dead line, is most definitely not it. Now get on you lot, we've got 4022 people to save and a computer to stabilize."

The journey to the main computer took an agonizing five minutes and during that time the Doctor noticed Anita lose her second shadow. The computer, it turned out, was the mind of a little girl, Charlotte Abigail Lux. That meant she had 4022 living minds chatting in her mind and therefore she'd forgotten she was a computer and there wasn't enough memory space for a clean download. The Doctor explained to the humans his plan to hook his own mind to the computer for her to borrow his memory space. Professor Song protested, saying it'd burn both his hearts and kill him stone dead. Yes, he'd regret not being able to say goodbye to Rose and Jack, not being able to tell them that yes, he loved them, Rose a little more than Jack, but hey, Jack loved Rose a little more than him so they were even. Now they had the chance of a normal life together without him putting them in danger constantly. But then, Rose was jeopardy friendly, maybe their lives wouldn't be quite as boring as everyone else's.

So he sent the others away and Professor Song instructed Anita to stay with him and he gave the Vashta Nerada the only offer he could: they would let the downloaded people go or he would burn the planet. Yes it'd be unfortunate but he could do it, he'd done it before. He had very little mercy left for the reason he'd tried to teleport Rose and Jack away and got her stuck inside a computer. After a little research on the Vashta Nerada's part, they agreed. Then Professor Song was there and she decked him.

He woke up to find himself hand cuffed to a support beam and professor Song preparing to hook herself to the mainframe. He tried to reason with her, tried to make her release him and let him be the sacrifice. She refused, citing his own paradox speech back at him. If he died there, she'd never meet him and wouldn't have been there to call him to the Library, making it impossible for him to die at the Library.

The Doctor knew that was the smallest of her paradoxes, could see it in her timeline, but he didn't look into it deeper. Then she tried to tell him of his future self again but he stopped her, he didn't want to know, especially as she hadn't recognized Rose and Jack on sight.

The timer hit zero and he turned his face away, not wanting to see her be electrocuted first and eventually be burned out of physical existence. He had preserved one stupid ape out of six and lost both Rose and Jack. Yes, the likelihood of them being downloaded was huge, but he'd still lost them. He winced. Rose was likely to slap him for trying to send her away. If there ever was a next time he'd have to send her away, he'd have to be much cleverer about it than just tricking her to stand on a teleport pod.

Desolately he reached with his foot to nudge his sonic screwdriver closer to free himself from the handcuffs. The people inside the computer should already be upstairs. Rose and Jack among them. With no idea where he was… his moves hastened and once he was free he ran to the gravity platform.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

"So how was it? Living the slow path?" the Doctor asked Rose and Jack, leaning on the wall, watching all the people mile about, being teleported away.

"Well, Jack and I ended up married with two kids," answered Rose from his right side.

"But there was always something missing," Jack added from his left.

Rose took the Doctor's hand with a wide smile. "You know, the third one, the fantastic one," she turned his head to her and kissed him on the lips. He drew back quickly with wide, shocked eyes but couldn't say anything for his sputtering.

Jack then took his other hand. "The one to take us all over time and space wasn't there," he said when the kiss ended and turned the Doctor to face him instead and kissed him too.

When he pulled back, the Doctor laughed and squeezed their hands. "To the TARDIS you two apes, I think we have new angles of this relationship to explore. But, we're not having kids in the near future, so you better check your birth control. I won't have TARDIS turned domestic."

Jack's grin as he pulled him by hand was positively filthy. "But you will, Rose is very good at domesticating people. I should know."

"Be quiet, you," Rose grinned at him, tongue between her teeth, and leaned closer to Jack, lowering her voice so that the Doctor almost didn't hear her: "or do you want me to spank you again?"

"Oh yes baby, please," Jack said with hooded eyes. "But we might have to ease Doc into it, buy him a drink first or something."

"Then it's a lucky thing we've got a time traveling space ship, wouldn't you say?"

Smiling, the Doctor listens to the two humans flirt, including him in their flirting while not actively flirting with him and his thoughts turn to Professor River Song. Because really, he wouldn't give his sonic to just anyone, in fact, at the moment Rose was the only one he'd willingly handed it to. But why would he? Why would he give Professor Song his screwdriver? Why? And he must've had another reason than just having known she had one when she went to the Library. The dampers and red settings hadn't really done anything significant for him, so it can't have been for those. They were clumsy, crudely made and just took over more space than sophisticated dampers and covered the screwdriver… Covered the screwdriver! The dampers were hiding something underneath!

He stopped where he was and Rose and Jack turned to him in concern. "Oh, I'm fantastic, even in the future!" he shouted and ran away from Rose, Jack and the TARDIS, to the gravity platform. He didn't have time to travel slowly, so he disabled the platform and just dived to the planet's core where he'd left Professor Song's screwdriver with her diary. Once he got his hands on the screwdriver he ripped the dampers off and saw the built in neuro relay flashing it's last green light at him. He rushed to the mainframe and connected the sonic screwdriver to it, uploading Professor Song's consciousness to the hard drive. Charlotte Abigail Lux smiled from the command node and saved Professor Song, just like she'd saved everyone else who'd died at the Library that day.

Smugly he made his way back up to Rose and Jack, twirling the screwdriver in his fingers. "And that's another stupid ape saved," he crowed triumphantly and showed the now slim screwdriver to his humans. "Some time in the future I'll add neuro relay into this thing and cover it up with dampers so that Professor Song's consciousness can be saved on the hard drive. I really am quite fantastic. But now, I believe the two of you owe me drinks." He offered his arms to his humans and led them to the TARDIS, letting their chatter wash over him, dampening the ache for his people in the back of his mind.

He was so distracted by their chattering that he didn't notice the beginnings of the golden and blue grey bonds in the back of his mind or the shift in the timelines that the meeting that should have happened three years latter now having happened caused.


End file.
